MANILA – Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said there are fewer businesses that remain closed as the government eases community quarantine measures in August and September.
In his speech at the Franchise Asia Philippines 2020 Monday, Lopez said only 6 percent of over 2,000 surveyed micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain closed during the two-month period.
This is lower compared to 38 percent in April to May period, the height of the lockdown measures, and 11 percent in June to July period.
“It’s just been over six months since the first ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) lockdown, and by now, I can say we’ve learned to manage and adjust with the virus,” Lopez said.
The DTI chief also assured the franchising sector of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ (IATF) direction in reopening the economy safely.
He added the IATF has adopted a full month community quarantine classification instead of the usual two-week cycle to provide businesses more stability in planning.
“It is important as more micro, SMEs will be able to restart their businesses and more of our people will be able to start work and earn their income again. Bringing back jobs will likewise revive consumer confidence which we need to revive the economy,” Lopez said.
Lopez also cited improvements in the economy as the government relaxes lockdown measures.
He said the unemployment rate has slowed down from 17.7 percent in April to 10 percent in July.
Decrements in export revenues also eased from a drop of 49.9 percent in April to a 9.6-percent decline in July.
“We hope to recover to positive growth territory by year-end in the same way that we have been posting positive growth rates in 2019, as well as January and February before the lockdown this year,” the top trade official said.
He added the Philippines is one of the few countries that registered positive exports growth pre-pandemic despite the challenging exports market.